Health insurance in Austria: how it works for newcomers, expats and retirees (2026)

By Rudolf Adlmanninger, insurance broker (Versicherungsmakler) · Last updated 8 September 2026

In short: Health insurance in Austria is compulsory, and for most people it starts automatically with employment subject to compulsory insurance — your employer registers you before your first working day, and an e-card follows by post — or with self-employment, where you register with the SVS yourself. If you have no job here yet, you can apply to the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) for self-insurance at €565.25 per month (2026), but benefits normally start only after a six-month waiting period, and third-country nationals need a valid residence permit before they can even apply. For the residence permit itself, Austrian law requires cover that includes all risks and pays out in Austria — which is why newcomers without a job or family cover start with a private policy the immigration authority accepts, while those with a job waiting need only bridging cover until it starts. Pensioners whose home state remains responsible for their healthcare — usually those drawing only an EU, EEA, Swiss or UK state pension — bring an S1 form instead of buying cover at all. We are an independent insurance broker in Austria, we advise in English by video call or telephone, and most of this can be sorted out before you land.

How does POINTNER finanz help — in English, before you arrive?

We are an independent insurance broker, which means we work for you and not for one insurer, and we advise across Austria by video call and telephone, in English. Rudolf Adlmanninger has been in the insurance business since 1994. Most of our clients never sit in our office in Ried im Innkreis — and you do not need to be in Austria to become one.

1. A 15-minute callTell us your situation: which passport, which permit, whether a job is waiting, when you plan to arrive. We tell you which of the routes on this page applies to you — and if the answer is “you need nothing from us”, we say that too.
2. We sort out your caseWe check what your authority requires, what your existing cover does after the move, and where the gaps and waiting periods sit. Where it helps, we go through the terms with you on a shared screen so you can see what you are signing.
3. Quote and applicationYou receive a written quote and, where we can, we submit the application online. Care Austria can be taken out from abroad before you enter Austria, so the insurance certificate is ready when the authority asks for it.

We are based in Austria and use Central European Time, switching to Central European Summer Time in summer — roughly one hour ahead of the UK, six ahead of New York and three and a half to four and a half hours behind Delhi, depending on the season. Early-morning and evening slots exist for exactly that reason; please check the time zone shown when booking.

How does health insurance in Austria work?

Austria runs a system of compulsory social insurance, not a market you shop around in. Almost the entire resident population — 99.9 per cent, according to the federal ministry responsible for social affairs and health — is covered by statutory health insurance. Social insurance here is organised by occupational group — people belong to a particular institution because of the work they do, not because they picked it: employees and most other groups to the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK, the Austrian Health Insurance Fund), the self-employed and farmers to the SVS, public servants and railway and mining staff to the BVAEB. What you receive does not depend on what you pay in: the ministry states that the right to treatment applies “independently of the amount of health insurance contributions paid” and that all insured people have the same level of entitlement.

What you receive is care in kind rather than a refund. You show your e-card at a doctor who holds a contract with your fund, and the bill is settled between the two of them. Family members may qualify for co-insurance on application, subject to conditions: children are generally covered without an additional contribution, while for a spouse or registered partner an additional contribution of 3.4 per cent of the insured person’s gross income may apply — with exemptions, for example while raising children or if the dependant receives care allowance at level 3 or higher. A few things you pay yourself: a prescription charge of €7.55 per item (2026) unless you are exempt or have reached the annual cap of 2 per cent of your net income, a daily contribution for a limited number of hospital days a year, and the annual e-card service fee of €25.00 for 2026 (€26.85 for 2027, due in November 2026), which not everyone pays — marginal employees, for example, are exempt.

Sources: Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection: Health Insurance, migration.gv.at: Health insurance, ÖGK: Mitversicherung von Partnern (German) and ÖGK: e-card-Serviceentgelt (German) (accessed September 2026)

Two words you will hear constantly are Vertragsarzt and Wahlarzt. A Vertragsarzt has an agreement with your fund and treats you on the e-card. A Wahlarzt does not: you settle the invoice yourself and claim part of the cost back afterwards — the ÖGK refunds 80 per cent of what it would have paid a contract doctor for the same service, not 80 per cent of your bill. The same logic runs through the hospital system — the general ward is covered; private hospital accommodation and treatment (Sonderklasse) with a consultant of your choice and a smaller room is not. That gap is exactly what Austrian supplementary private insurance is for, and it is a different product from the private policies used for residence permits. Both are covered further down this page.

Do I get insured automatically when I start a job?

Yes, for employment above the marginal-earnings threshold (€551.10 a month in 2026), and you do not have to apply. Compulsory insurance covers almost everyone in paid employment, most self-employed people, people claiming unemployment benefit, pensioners and their dependants. Your employer registers the employment with the ÖGK before your first working day and has to hand you a copy of that registration — it is worth checking that the start date on it is correct, because your entitlement to treatment is derived from it. For employees the health-insurance contribution is 7.65 per cent of gross pay, of which you pay 3.87 per cent and your employer the rest, up to a monthly contribution ceiling of €6,930 (2026); it is deducted with your wages rather than billed as a premium. Different rules apply to marginal employment (no health cover from the job itself), self-employment (you register with the SVS, with provisional contributions that are reassessed later), posted workers and people who remain insured in another country — confirm your status before relying on automatic cover.

The e-card itself arrives by post. Since 1 January 2020 every newly issued e-card for people aged 14 and over carries a photograph, and for most people that photograph is pulled automatically from an existing register: an Austrian passport, an Austrian identity card, an Austrian card-format driving licence, or a document from the foreigners register such as a residence permit or Red-White-Red Card. Two groups are exempt from the photograph altogether: people who turn 70 in the year the card is issued or are older, and recipients of care allowance at levels 4 to 7. For everyone else, if none of those registers holds a photograph — which is often the case for EU citizens who arrive with nothing but their home passport — check first on chipkarte.at whether one is on file and, if not, bring a passport photograph to the registration office responsible for you, in person, together with your travel document. That is the first-card case; for renewals the advice is to provide the photograph three to four months before the card expires. Your entitlement to treatment exists from registration, not from the day the card arrives — until then your fund can confirm your cover. It is a small step that catches a lot of newcomers out.

Sources: ÖGK: Wer meldet bei der Sozialversicherung an? (German), oesterreich.gv.at: e-card (German) and chipkarte.at: Foto bringen (German), chipkarte.at: Ausnahmen von der Fotopflicht (German) and ÖGK: Geringfügigkeit (marginal-earnings threshold, German) (accessed September 2026)

What if I have no job yet — how does ÖGK self-insurance work?

If you live in Austria and are not compulsorily insured anywhere, you can apply to the ÖGK for voluntary statutory health insurance (Selbstversicherung in der Krankenversicherung — literally “self-insurance”). It is the route into the statutory system for people without an employer: non-working spouses, early retirees, people between jobs whose compulsory cover has ended, students who do not qualify for the reduced student rate. The contribution for 2026 is €565.25 per month — one single amount, not staggered by age or state of health.

What you need to know	ÖGK self-insurance, as at 2026
Monthly contribution	€565.25, the same for everyone, due on the first of each month in advance
Reduction	Possible on a separate application, assessed on your economic circumstances; you must supply current evidence of income, assets and maintenance
Requirements	Your main place of residence is in Austria, and you are not compulsorily insured in Austria, another EU or EEA state or Switzerland. Applicants from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland must also submit a valid residence permit
Waiting period	Six months. It is waived if you were covered by statutory insurance (or entitled as a dependant) for at least six uninterrupted weeks immediately before, or for at least 26 weeks in the previous twelve months
What is covered	Benefits in kind: medical and dental treatment, hospital stays, medicines, preventive check-ups, medical aids — on the e-card
What is not covered	Cash benefits. Sickness benefit (Krankengeld) and maternity benefit (Wochengeld) are expressly excluded
Dependants	Co-insurance possible on application, subject to conditions: children without an additional contribution; for an adult partner 3.4 per cent may apply unless exempt
When it ends	The day before compulsory insurance begins — for example when you take a job, become self-employed or start drawing a statutory pension. Voluntary cancellation is possible after a minimum term of six months

Sources: ÖGK: Self-insurance coverage for health insurance (English leaflet, PDF), ÖGK: Selbstversicherung in der Krankenversicherung (German) and ÖGK: Selbstversicherung für Studierende (German, PDF) (accessed September 2026)

Two limits are worth knowing before you count on this route. First, the six-month waiting period is a real gap in cover, not a formality — unless you were insured in Austria, the EU, the EEA or a treaty state for six weeks immediately beforehand or for 26 weeks in the previous twelve months, you pay for half a year before you can claim anything. Second, the ÖGK will not accept an application from a third-country national who does not yet hold a residence permit, which is precisely the situation most people are in when they first apply. There is also a rule that catches former business owners in Austria: according to the ÖGK, anyone previously covered under the Austrian trade or farmers’ social insurance acts (GSVG, BSVG) has to wait 60 months after leaving that scheme before self-insurance is possible, with a few exceptions the ÖGK lists — this concerns former Austrian self-employment, not self-employment abroad. Students have their own reduced variant at €78.84 a month (2026), tied to admission, study progress and an income limit — and without the six-month waiting period (§ 19 no. 1 of the ÖGK statutes), which is why the authority accepts it as cover “without a waiting period”.

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Source: RIS: ÖGK statutes, notice 68/2025, § 19 waiting period for self-insured persons (German, PDF) (accessed September 2026)

Which health insurance do I need for my residence permit?

Every Austrian residence title requires proof of health insurance, and the standard is high. Section 11 para. 2 no. 3 of the Settlement and Residence Act (NAG) requires that the foreign national “has health insurance cover which covers all risks and which also pays out in Austria” (our translation of “über einen alle Risken abdeckenden Krankenversicherungsschutz verfügt und diese Versicherung in Österreich auch leistungspflichtig ist”). The official English portal for migration puts it in the same terms: “For your stay in Austria, you must have health insurance coverage which provides benefits in Austria and covers all risks. If you are insured in the public social insurance system (e.g. you are employed in Austria), this coverage is sufficient.” The policy has to be submitted with the application — and first applications are, as a rule, filed at the Austrian embassy or consulate responsible for your place of residence, so before you travel.

Sources: RIS: § 11 Abs. 2 Z 3 NAG (German) and migration.gv.at: Permanent immigration — general requirements (accessed September 2026)

The catch: the ÖGK wants your permit, the authority wants your insurance

Read the two sets of rules side by side and you find a circle. The immigration authority will not grant the permit without proof of insurance. The ÖGK, in its list of documents to be submitted, requires a valid residence permit from applicants outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland — so it will not insure you until you have the permit. Even where self-insurance is possible, Vienna’s immigration authority MA 35 only accepts it as sufficient in a specific form: according to its published list, no private policy is needed if “you insure yourself with the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK) and have no waiting period until your insurance begins. If you have a waiting period, you must bridge the waiting period with a private insurance policy.”

For a first application without a job or family cover, that leaves a private policy in practice. The same list names the other situations in which no private cover is required: you are covered by law through your work, you are self-employed and insured with the SVS, or you are co-insured with someone who holds statutory cover. The insurance evidence you need therefore depends on the residence category and on when statutory cover begins: for a Red-White-Red Card with an employment contract, migration.gv.at describes standard travel health insurance (cover above €30,000, including rescue and repatriation costs) as sufficient bridging cover until employment-based insurance starts; a settlement permit without gainful employment or a student permit needs comprehensive cover for the whole stay. Confirm the requirements for your application before buying a policy — the MA 35 list is Vienna’s administrative guidance, not a complete rulebook for every Austrian permit.

Source: migration.gv.at: FAQ — health insurance when applying (bridging cover for the Red-White-Red Card) (accessed September 2026)

Which private policies does the authority accept?

MA 35 publishes a list of private health insurance policies that “have been examined for a stay in Austria and are sufficient”. For some of them the authority additionally requires a signed supplementary declaration from the insurer, which has to be written into your contract word for word; for others it does not. Care Concept issues that supplementary declaration for Care Austria in every case — it comes with the policy documents automatically, even where the list does not ask for it. According to the list, no supplementary declaration is required for the Allianz Elementar policy “Meine Gesundheitsversicherung für Nichtsozialversicherte” and for the Care Concept policies “Care Austria” and “Care Austria Education”. The 364-day versions of the same product family — “Care Austria 364” and “Care Austria 364 Education” — are listed as well, but only with a signed declaration. Policies from DONAU, Generali, UNIQA and Wiener Städtische appear on the list with a required declaration, and you may also use an insurer that is not on the list at all, provided your insurer accepts and signs the general declaration and the scope of cover corresponds essentially to Austrian statutory insurance.

One more limit belongs on the record: Care Austria and Care Austria Education end automatically once you are granted the residence title “Daueraufenthalt EU” (long-term resident — EU); at that point you have to take out different cover. The 364-day versions end in the same way: their terms end cover as soon as an open-ended residence permit is granted (§ 6 no. 3 d). The same applies the day you become subject to compulsory statutory insurance in Austria, usually because you start a job: the policy terms exclude insurability for anyone covered by compulsory insurance under § 4 ASVG (§ 1 no. 3 b); once that statutory cover actually exists and has been evidenced, insurability lapses (§ 1 no. 4) and the contract ends with it (§ 2 no. 6 c) — no notice is needed and there is no waiting for a renewal date, you send Care Concept the proof of registration.

Source: City of Vienna (MA 35): Aufenthaltsrecht — Akzeptierte private Krankenversicherungen (German) (accessed September 2026)

What Care Austria costs

Care Austria (partner link) is private health insurance for people moving to Austria (an “incoming” policy in Austrian industry terms), offered by Care Concept AG in Bonn. According to the provider it suits foreign students, language students, au pairs, expatriates, seasonal workers, people of independent means and emigrants, and it can be taken out with an open-ended term until the day before your 75th birthday. If you are between 12 and 35 and staying in Austria for education, the lower Education rate within Care Austria applies, with the premium guaranteed for six years for as long as you can prove you are in education or training. Premiums according to Care Concept, as at September 2026:

Plan and age	Term up to 364 days	Open-ended term
Care Austria Education, ages 12–35 (in education)	€51.00 per month	€56.00 per month
Care Austria Standard, ages 0–49	€95.00 per month	€155.00 per month
Care Austria Standard, ages 50–64	€95.00 per month	€222.00 per month
Care Austria Standard, ages 65–74	€219.00 per month	€510.00 per month

The benefit list covers inpatient treatment with a free choice of public and private hospitals — but at general-ward level in a multi-bed room, without private-doctor services, so no Sonderklasse — outpatient treatment including doctors without a statutory contract, prescribed medicines, preventive check-ups up to €500 per policy year, psychotherapy up to €1,500 per policy year and no more than €150 per session, accident-related medical aids up to €2,500 a year (prescribed glasses up to €100), dental treatment including fillings and an annual check-up with a scale and polish, dentures at 80 per cent up to €750 where a treatment and cost plan is submitted in advance and 50 per cent where it is not, and medically advised repatriation. Care Concept describes the reimbursement as being “in accordance with ÖGK” and issues a digital insurance card. Note that the application asks health questions: in the provider’s own words, “in our online application form you need to answer a few health-related questions.”

Four limits belong on the record. Care Austria can be taken out until the day before your 75th birthday, so a follow-on solution has to be planned for later years. “In accordance with ÖGK” means reimbursement at statutory-fund rates within the policy’s own limits, not every private invoice in full. Care Concept settles directly with doctors and hospitals that accept it; where a practice does not, you pay and send the invoice in for reimbursement (the terms provide for reimbursement against original invoices). The health questions matter: the insurer decides whether to accept the application at all, and a refusal is possible. Where a pre-existing condition is accepted, you carry an excess of €5,000 per insured person and insurance year for anything arising from it, and the insurer’s payments for those conditions are capped at €30,000 over the whole contract term — in practice that works out as an exclusion for that condition. On the 364 terms an insurance year means the 364 days from the start of the first contract, including any follow-on contracts, and one nuance belongs next to the excess: for treatment in Austria, deductibles are capped at what the ÖGK would charge for benefits it would cover (§ 9 no. 4), which is worth checking case by case. A pregnancy that already exists is generally not covered by a new policy, and the same applies when a follow-on contract is applied for. The insurer behind the product is named in the policy documents (currently Advigon Versicherung AG); Care Concept is the provider. And the open-ended premiums are adjusted in steps set out in the policy terms, the next on 1 January 2028 (to €187, €268 and €617 a month for the three age bands); statutory ÖGK contributions are adjusted every year as well, and each step carries a right to cancel. Practical points from our own dealings with the product: the 364-day version runs for a term you choose — from one month up to a maximum of 364 days — and ends with it; according to Care Concept, spouses and children can be co-insured; and the policy can be taken out before you enter Austria. It does not renew by itself: a follow-on contract has to be applied for on the insurer’s form before the current one expires and needs the insurer’s express consent, and it only covers events that arise after that application — anything from the first term counts as pre-existing, with a fresh €5,000 excess, and the eight-month waiting period for childbirth and dentures starts again. For a stay that will last years, the open-ended contract is usually the better fit; we look at that with you.

Source: Care Concept AG: Care Austria — health insurance for foreign nationals in Austria (partner link) (premiums as at September 2026 according to Care Concept, accessed September 2026) and Advigon Versicherung AG: Care Austria policy terms VB-KV 2023_10 with premium table (German, PDF) and Advigon Versicherung AG / Care Concept AG: Care Austria 364 policy terms VB-KV 2020_07 (CAU 364_2020_07), §§ 2, 6, 7 and 9 (German, PDF) (accessed September 2026)

ÖGK or private — an honest comparison

The price difference is not subtle: €565.25 a month with general ÖGK self-insurance against €51 to €510 with Care Austria, depending on age and term. That comparison does not hold for students, though: eligible students can apply for ÖGK student self-insurance at €78.84 a month in 2026 with no waiting period, which sits alongside a private student policy such as Care Austria Education at €51 — we compare the two for you. What you get for the higher price is a place inside the statutory system — an e-card, contract doctors who bill your fund directly, no health questions, no exclusions, and cover that does not care how long you stay. Applicants for private cover are asked health questions; a private policy has its own terms and exclusions, gives you an insurer’s card rather than an e-card, and in the Care Austria case ends when you reach long-term resident status. Neither is simply better. Which one fits depends on your permit, your age, your health history and how long you intend to stay — and for a first application the private policy is often the route that is open to you.

Two cautions. First, this list is the one kept by the Vienna authority. Other provincial authorities decide independently and have their own practice — if you are settling in Upper Austria, Tyrol or anywhere else, ask your district authority what it requires before you sign anything. Second, insurers do not have to accept every applicant, and we never promise that they will. Our separate page on the health insurance requirement for the Red-White-Red Card and other permits goes into the permit categories in detail. Students have their own page: student health insurance in Austria.

I am retiring to Austria — what applies to me?

Retirement is the case where the answer differs most by passport, so take the three routes in turn.

If you draw a pension only from an EU or EEA state or Switzerland and neither work nor draw a pension in Austria, that state normally remains responsible for your healthcare and you do not buy insurance in Austria at all. You request an S1 form from the health insurance institution in the country that pays your pension and register it with the ÖGK after you arrive. Eligibility depends on your pension, employment and insurance history: an Austrian pension or work in Austria can shift responsibility to Austria, and private or company pensions do not create an S1 entitlement. From then on you are treated in Austria as a resident of Austria would be, on an e-card, and your home country reimburses the cost. German pensioners in particular should read our German-language guide for pensioners moving to Austria before cancelling a German private policy.

If you draw a UK State Pension, the S1 still exists after Brexit. The NHS Business Services Authority’s Overseas Healthcare Services issues it, and you can apply online up to 90 days before you move to an EU country. Three details matter: an S1 gives you the same healthcare cover as a resident, with the UK responsible for the costs, but it does not cover private healthcare — and it does nothing until you register it with the relevant authority in Austria. You need an address in Austria for the application (a temporary one is accepted), and the NHSBSA confirms your eligibility. If you need the S1 for a visa application, the NHSBSA will send it to your UK address. And an S1 is evidence of healthcare entitlement, not permission to live in Austria: UK nationals moving after Brexit must also check the residence route that applies to them, unless they hold protected rights under the Withdrawal Agreement.

Sources: NHS Business Services Authority: Applying for healthcare cover for living abroad and European Commission (Your Europe): Health insurance cover when living abroad (accessed September 2026)

If you are American, Canadian, Australian or otherwise outside that system, there is normally no S1 to fall back on — unless earlier work in Europe or an EU pension entitlement changes the picture, which we check. The usual residence title for retirement is the “settlement permit — gainful employment excepted”, which is subject to an annual quota and to fixed income requirements: for 2026, a regular monthly income of €2,616.78 for a single person, €4,128.24 for married couples or registered partners, plus €403.76 for each child — and the authority also looks at your regular outgoings, so the table figure is a floor, not the whole test. German at level A1 must as a rule be proved before immigration, and the first application is filed at the Austrian consular representation abroad. For the insurance requirement you have two realistic options: a private policy that pays out in Austria and appears on the accepted list — Care Austria Standard can be taken out until the day before your 75th birthday, and the Allianz policy for people outside social insurance is on the list without a supplementary declaration — or ÖGK self-insurance, but only once you hold the permit and only if you can avoid the waiting period. Our dedicated page on retiring in Austria goes through all of this route by route.

Source: migration.gv.at: Other forms of settlement — settlement permit, gainful employment excepted (accessed September 2026)

What about private supplementary insurance — is it worth it?

Once your statutory cover is in place, the Austrian market offers a second, entirely different product: supplementary insurance on top of the ÖGK. It does not replace anything. It pays for the things the statutory system leaves to you — treatment by a doctor without a statutory contract (Wahlarzt), private hospital accommodation and treatment (Sonderklasse) with the consultant of your choice, and depending on the plan, dental work — subject to the policy terms. Patients themselves pay for these services, and their fund reimburses only part of the cost.

Source: migration.gv.at: Health insurance (accessed September 2026)

We do not publish a price for it, because there is no honest single figure: the premium depends on your age, on the scope you choose and on the insurer’s health assessment. Three things are worth knowing from our own experience as brokers before you decide. Every insurer asks health questions, and pre-existing conditions can lead to exclusions, additional premiums because of your medical history, or a refusal — this is not a policy you can reliably add after a diagnosis. Waiting periods apply, typically longer ones for dentistry and maternity. And the premium is calculated from your age when the contract starts, so cover taken out at 35 starts cheaper than the same cover taken out at 50 — although premiums may change over time under the statutory and contractual adjustment rules, so plan for the long-term cost. If supplementary cover is on your list at all, the cheapest moment to arrange it is shortly after you arrive, not years later. We quote individually, and we will tell you when it is not worth it.

Frequently asked questions about health insurance in Austria